A major appliance, or domestic appliance, is a large machine in home appliance used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cooking, washing laundry, or food preservation. An appliance is different from a plumbing fixture because it uses electricity or fuel.
Major appliances, also known as white goods, comprise major household appliances and may include: air conditioners, dishwashers, clothes dryers, drying cabinets, freezers, refrigerators, kitchen stoves, water heaters, washing machines, trash compactors, microwave ovens and induction cookers. White goods were typically painted or enameled white, and many of them still are.
Major appliances differ from small appliances because they are bigger and not portable. They are often considered fixtures and part of real estate and as such they are often supplied to tenants as part of otherwise unfurnished rental properties. Major appliances may have special electrical connections, connections to gas supplies, or special plumbing and ventilation arrangements that may be permanently connected to the appliance. This limits where they can be placed in a home.
Small appliances are typically small household electrical machines, easily carried and installed. Some are classified with white goods, and relate to heating and cooling such as: fans and window mounted air conditioners, and heaters such as space heaters, ceramic heaters, gas heaters, kerosene heaters, and fan heaters. Yet another category is used in the kitchen, including: juicers, electric mixers, meat grinders, coffee grinders, deep fryers, herb grinders, food processors, electric kettles, waffle irons, coffee makers, blenders and dough blenders, rice cookers, toasters and exhaust hoods.
Entertainment and information appliances such as: home electronics, TV sets, CD, VCRs and DVD players, camcorders, still cameras, clocks, alarm clocks, video game consoles, HiFi and home cinema, telephones and answering machines are classified as "brown goods". Some such appliances were traditionally finished with genuine or imitation wood. This has become rare but the name has stuck, even for goods that are unlikely ever to have had a wooden case.
Buying American-made appliances is smart as the money is reinvested into the country. However, you would think buying American-made would be easier.
Most conglomerates may have US workers (good) with foreign ownership (not as good). Some American brands import some products under their name to complete their offering. Neither are exactly American made by the strictest definition.
